Sent SA HMRC fine but was PAYE

FtbDreaming

Im just trying to help a friend as English isnt his first language.

He's been sent a £1500 fine for late filing of self assessment for year ending april 2017. He was employed throughput the year and has the payslips to prove it, he had paid PAYE on each of his payslips throughout the year.

How do i go about helping him? Could We write a letter as he has difficulty communicating over the phone because of the language.

TBagpuss

If you are in the same place he should be abl to phone then authorise them to speak to you. But failin that, yes, write a letter for him t approve and sign, which can also say that he expressly authorises them to speak to you .

Pennywise

If HMRC tell you to submit a SA return, then you have to, regardless of your circumstances. You/he needs to contact HMRC to ask them to withdraw the notice to complete a SA return on the grounds that he doesn't meed the SA criteria for that year. It's up to them whether they do or not. Fines will continue to rise until he submits the SA return or gets HMRC to agree to withdraw their requirement. Continuing to ignore their letters will only make things worse.

General_Grant

FtbDreaming wrote: »

Im just trying to help a friend as English isnt his first language.

He's been sent a £1500 fine for late filing of self assessment for year ending april 2017. He was employed throughput the year and has the payslips to prove it, he had paid PAYE on each of his payslips throughout the year.

How do i go about helping him? Could We write a letter as he has difficulty communicating over the phone because of the language.

But was he also self-employed? Other income? Or was his PAYE income all he received?

Was he asked to submit a self-assessment return for 2016-17?

comeandgo

I am employed but need to complete tax returns each year due to company car and mileage claims. If HMRC send the paperwork, you have to complete it. Has he outstanding April 18 ones too?

Marcon

You don't get a fine of that level out of the blue. Sounds as if he's happily been ignoring a lot of previous letters in the erroneous belief that 'because I was PAYE I don't need to do a tax return'.

I'd be tempted to draft a simple letter for him to sign, saying just that and apologising profusely. If he has (relatively) recently moved to the UK I'd add that; and also say that English is not his first language and he is still getting used to dealing with official correspondence. All of that is true and HMRC might just take a sympathetic view.

FtbDreaming

There was an appeal form in the letter so ive filled it in for him amd he's signed and sent it.

Yes I reckon he has had letters and ignored them but he swears he hasnt so I'll just take it on face value as its not really my business. Likewise he says they're the only jobs he had with the payslips for.

Dazed_and_confused

Self Assessment is not just for the self employed.

There are lots of reasons why a return might be required.

Low Income Tax Reform Group (LITRG) mention this as one of the reasons,

You have tax due at the end of the year that cannot be collected via your PAYE coding notice in a later year;

He needs to get to the bottom of why the return was issued and if it is due to owing some PAYE tax then he will almost certainly need to complete the return as it has been issued for a valid reason. He may be able to get away with just paying any tax and interest due but HMRC will no doubt want the return filing before they agree any appeal against the penalties.

Time to stop burying his head in the sand.

FtbDreaming

Well the letters been sent back so they'll respond and let him know one way or the other.

Tbh i doubt its an amount worth burying ur head in the sand over, he only does low paid catering work and the weekly paye was less than £20 (wish mine was that low!). Its probably more of a case that he hasnt understood what was expected of him.

Dox

FtbDreaming wrote: »

Tbh i doubt its an amount worth burying ur head in the sand over, he only does low paid catering work and the weekly paye was less than £20 (wish mine was that low!).

Yes, but low PAYE tends to me low earnings...

Please come back and update this thread with the outcome. I hope HMRC waive the fine, given he is such a low earner.

Mrs_Ryan

Has the company not been paying his tax possibly? Or have they been reported as being a contractor?